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The three sleekly designed canopies that just opened in Crosstown Concourse's front plaza offer free public WiFi, power outlets, solid and partial shade, a breeze from the 14-foot ceiling fans, tables, chairs, benches and a place to meet other people.

"The idea is that we have all these wonderful tenants, and we want spaces where they can interconnect. Not just with each other, but also with the surrounding neighborhood,'' said Todd Richardson, co-leader of Crosstown Concourse.

The canopies add another common, open space for mixing residents of the 265 apartments as well as the 40-plus commercial and nonprofit tenants and their employees, clients and customers.

The other meeting grounds include the Central Atrium, West Atrium, North Plaza/Balcony and the main plaza.

The $250 million development aspires to be not just a 1.2 million-square-foot building housing a mix of tenants and uses, but a "vertical urban village'' where the interactions create community, a sense of place and even better outcomes for whatever goals are hatched in and around the building.

Memphis-based Hunter Fan wanted to participate, and donated the three huge fans for the canopies, Richardson said.

During a sunny lunch hour last week, Dr. Sanjeet Rangarajan sat underneath one of the canopies on a patio chair and read from his tablet.

"This is my first time enjoying the canopy,'' said the physician, bedecked in his blue scrubs and sunglasses. Crosstown Concourse is close enough to his work in the Medical District that he drove over for lunch and to read for a few minutes.

"It looked like an inviting space with nice chairs, and I get to enjoy a bit of shade but also a little bit of sun in the nice weather here,'' he said.

"It's a nice space,'' he said, and pointed to the plaza's shallow fountains. "You get a little bit of the sound of nature ... I guess if it gets a bit warmer in the summer I'll go sit under the fan over there.''

Late Friday morning, 23-year-old Rey Delgado sat at a picnic table immersed in a book for his studies to be a pharmacy technician.

"It's more quiet than inside,'' said Delgado, who's from Puerto Rico and is visiting his sister, a Concourse apartment tenant. He's a student at a Puerto Rico college.

LRK Architects designed the canopies that each measure about 25 feet-by-40 feet. "They are in the plaza in front of the building so they had to be monumental, otherwise they'd look very dinky,'' Richardson said.

The canopies are illuminated at night, providing "really great lighting for the plaza,'' he said.

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Crosstown Concourse has new canopies on its plaza that offer big fans and WiFi.(Photo: Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Anyone — Concourse tenant or not — is welcome to use the canopies and the WiFi, Richardson said.

The canopies also are available to be reserved for events like birthday parties, he said. For more information, contact Stacy Wright at (901) 507-8030 or visit crosstownarts.org.